standing, that we may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and abounding in the knowledge of God: strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness, giving thanks to the Father, who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son; in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins."'

1 Col. i. 11-14.

URS

DISCOURSE XIV.

THE CONJUGAL DUTIES OF CHRISTIANS ILLUSTRATED AND ENFORCED.

1 PET. iii, 1-7.—Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. Whose adorning, let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands: even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement. Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.

DIVINE revelation has often been compared to the sun; and it were easy to trace out many striking, pleasing, instructive analogies between these two glorious works of God. To one of these analogies, suggested by that portion of Scripture which now lies before us, I would, for a moment, solicit your attention. The sun, from his high throne in the heavens, diffuses light and heat and genial influence over all the earth, smiling benignantly on the lofty mountain and the humble vale, the populous city and the obscure village, the fertile field and the wilderness, the noble's mansion, with its richly cultivated demesne, and the peasant's cottage, with its surrounding barren waste. "His going forth is from the

end of heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it, and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof." The sun is a common good. It is for the world, for all the world.

It is thus, also, with divine truth enshrined in the Bible. It pours forth direction, and motive, and warning, and comfort suited to all men, to men of all countries, all ages, all conditions; to the young, to the middle aged, and to the old ; to the rich and to the poor, and to those to whom neither poverty nor riches have been given; to the prosperous and to the afflicted; to the happy and to the miserable; to man in the lowest and in the highest station in society and state of civilization; to the savage and to the sage; to the monarch and to the slave. It is the moral sun of the world of humanity, shedding pure light, holy influence over the whole of its diversified surface. No class of men is overlooked; every individual, however circumstanced, may find suitable instruction here.

In the verses immediately preceding our text, we see the light of inspired truth shining most benignantly on the humble dwelling of the Christian slave, and guiding and sustaining, and cheering him, amid his unmerited sufferings and ill-rewarded toils. And in the text itself, the sun of righteousness sheds beams full of healing on the very sources of society, in those directions, by complying with which, families might be made the abodes of a tranquil enjoyment and holy happiness, which would lead the mind backward to Eden, and forward to heaven.

The words that lie before us, are a farther illustration of the general injunction given to Christians, to "have their conversation honest among the Gentiles," that is, so to conduct themselves as that even their heathen neighbours should be constrained to approve and respect them. The manner in which this injunction was to be obeyed, was by a careful performance of relative duties, especially such as they owed to their heathen connexions. Of the excellence of such a

1 Psal. xix. 6.

course of conduct they were qualified judges, which they were not of the principles of their holy faith, nor of duties of a more strictly religious and Christian character. All Christians, therefore, were to yield a cheerful, loyal subjection to civil authority, as lodged both in its supreme and subordinate administrators; to cherish and display a becoming respect for all who, on whatever ground, had a claim on their respect; to cultivate and manifest that peculiar regard to the Christian society, which, in Christians, even heathens could not help perceiving to be becoming and proper; and to show a reverence for the supreme civil power, based on, and limited only by, the reverence due to Him who is "King of kings, and Lord of lords." Such Christians as stood in the relation of servants, especially to heathen masters, were carefully to discharge the duties and submit to the hardships connected with the situation in which they were placed. The natural tendency of such conduct, such "good works," habitually and perseveringly maintained, was to overcome the prejudices of their heathen neighbours, to convince them that they had misapprehended the true character both of their religion, and of themselves; and to constrain those "who spoke against them as evil-doers, to glorify God in the day of visitation."

Another way in which the same desirable object was to be sought, was by those who stood in the relation of husbands and wives, conscientiously discharging the duties which grew out of their union. And when we reflect on the manner in which the duties of the conjugal relation were neglected and violated among heathens; how much there was of the harshness of the tyrant in the character of the heathen husband, and of the baseness of the slave in the character of the heathen wife; how much pollution and cruelty prevailed, in what should be the sanctuary of purity and love we cannot help seeing, that few things were more calculated to strike, and to strike favourably, heathen observers, than the exemplification of the genius and power of Christianity, in softening the character of the husband, and

elevating, at once, the condition and character of the wife; and in thus giving an order, and purity, and endearment, and enjoyment to the domestic circle, not only beyond what heathen philosophy had accomplished, but beyond what it had ever dreamed of.

Such is the connexion, we apprehend, in which the interesting passage I have read, is introduced; and it contains a brief statement, and a powerful enforcement, of the conjugal duties; first, of the duties of the wife, and then, of the duties of the husband.

The whole of the conjugal duties, like, indeed, all duties, may be and are "summed up in one word, love;" "husbands," says the Apostle Paul, "love your wives;" and the same Apostle commands Titus, to take care "that the aged women teach the young women to love their husbands."1 But the appropriate form of love, in any particular case, when embodied in action, depends on the relation in which the party who loves stands to the party beloved. Parents are to "love their children," and show that they do so by "bringing them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." Children are to "love their parents," and they are to show that they do so, by "being obedient to them in the Lord." Masters are to love their servants, and they are to show this by being kind and considerate in their requisitions and arrangements; and servants are to love their masters, and show that they do so, by being obedient and submissive, diligent and faithful. In the like manner, husbands and wives are to "love one another, with a pure heart fervently;" and they are to manifest that love by a careful performance of the duties which rise out of, and are suited to, the relation in which they respectively stand to each other. What these are, we are told by the Apostle, in the passage before us. The duties of the wives are, subjection, chaste conversation coupled with fear, and an adorning of themselves; which is described, first, negatively, and then posi

1

1 Eph. v. 25. Tit. ii. 4.

Eph. vi. 4, 1, 9, 5.